That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Volume 5

A negotiation skill? No way. All she had to do was bark
out an order, and she could make anyone do her bidding. It
depended less on the actual words and more on what
Kirara wanted on the inside. The results were nothing short
of a massacre until Kirara’s summoner managed to place a
locking curse upon her.

All three of them had had their powers checked from the
moment they were summoned. The first few months were
devoted to magic-assisted language lessons, along with a
wide array of testing. The locking curse could not be
resisted. Any order made with it simply had to be followed,
whether you wanted to or not—and as part of that, Kirara
was forced to reveal what her skill really was.

She revealed it, but she was inaccurate on a few of the
details, thanks to her unfamiliarity with the language. As a
fifteen-year-old at the time, for Kirara, learning a foreign
tongue was a struggle. Even with the magical support, the
mere act of studying was pure torture to her. The results
led to that “I hope you all die” tragedy, and ever since,
Kirara’s skill had been sealed away, restricted from
activating without permission.

The same was somewhat true of Shogo, but (whether it
was lucky for him or not) it didn’t take long for Shogo’s full
strength to become obvious to all. That was what happened
when you killed the thirty magicians surrounding you the
moment you got summoned. It was the work of the unique
skill Berserker, and as the name suggested, it simply
provided a massive boost to the wielder’s physical strength
and abilities.

He had been seventeen then, a delinquent from a failing
high school, and his discontent and lust for violence had
awoken the skill in him. Combined with the karate Shogo
had studied since childhood, Berserker provided a massive
boost to his fighting strength. That led to thirty massacred
sorcerers. If Razen hadn’t been there, it would have been
even worse.

It was never a given that people summoned into this
world would just go quietly with their new guardians. They
were taken from their own lives for purely selfish reasons;
anyone could see the effect that would have, and the people
on this world knew it well. To handle it, each set of
summoning-ceremony spells came with a locking curse
included that made the otherworlder do the summoner’s
bidding.

“I swear,” muttered Shogo, “I wanna kill that old man.
Just ordering us to do whatever he wants…”

“Yeah, seriously. One of these days he’s, like, totally
goin’ down.”

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Kyoya replied. “At least if you do
what he says, you’re guaranteed the best food and
accommodation this world has to offer.”

They had gone through this conversation before. It was
never enough to leave Shogo or Kirara convinced.

“Huh? Yeah, no shit! Especially when the ‘best they have
to offer’ is garbage compared to our world.”

“Oh, totally,” Kirara added. “There are no cute stores, no
cosmetics… No TV, no Internet, no smartphones. This
world’s, like, completely devoid of entertainment. I’d be
totally fine if this planet just exploded.”

The complaints had piled up to the point where all three
could blow up at any time. Being forced to carry out orders
with no free will, in particular, was proving unbearable.
And Kyoya knew that much—but unlike the others, he was
willing to take a more flexible approach to his plight. There
was nothing he missed about his old world; he was far
more interested in the powers obtained on this one—
Shogo’s, Kirara’s, and his.

He had observed them, researched them, and thought
about what could be done with them.

And as he had, this current incident occurred—a
monster-slaying quest, their chance to work in the open.
Finally, after two years, Kyoya would get to see actual

battle.

Maybe Shogo and Kirara don’t like this, but I think this
is our big chance. If it turns into a war, that’ll keep the guys
with the locking curses on us too busy to keep tabs. Maybe
we could even kill them—or maybe they’ll just go die
themselves.





He couldn’t discuss this much with the other two. There
was too much of a chance they were being magically
eavesdropped on. Which wasn’t a bad thing exactly. But
there Kyoya was—seeing this as a chance, waiting patiently
for the exact moment he could strike and reclaim his
freedom.

Soon, the wagon carrying all three of them—each with
their own thoughts in mind—set off for Tempest.

Mjurran had received an emergency contact from Clayman.
He ordered her to deploy a special sort of high magic.

This magic involved taking the entire area within a
three-mile radius and converting it into an anti-magic zone.
Spells like these took time, so he ordered her to begin
working on it at once. The purpose was to shut off
communication with the outside world—there was more to
it than that, no doubt, but the demon lord offered no
further guidance.

It was clear Clayman planned something big—something
that he didn’t want the people of Tempest to know about. It
deeply concerned Mjurran, but she would never be allowed
to ask questions. Orders were orders.

What’s more, this magic was meant as a defensive spell
against other magic. It was being specially customized to
fulfill Clayman’s request, and as a result, it would have to
be launched around a circle with her at the center. There
was the rub. To keep high magic going, Mjurran would
have to reveal the identity of the high-level magic-born who
drove it: herself. There was no way doing so wouldn’t draw
the attention of the locals.

In effect, Mjurran, a magic-user, was being faced with a
potential angry mob of Tempestians in a zone that she
herself had blocked all the magic from. It was essentially

being ordered to die. The magic Clayman stipulated was
positionally based, so once it was launched, it’d last for
several days whether Mjurran was around for it or not. She
was, in effect, a throwaway piece of the puzzle.

Receiving this order crushed her. But there, yet again,
the figure of a single man in her life crossed her mind. If
she refused this order, it would bring that man an all-too-
tragic fate. Mjurran knew this better than anyone else, and
that was exactly why the only choice available to her was to
accept it.

I knew this would happen. A suitable end for me, I
suppose, but I wish at least he could be spared—

She recalled the face of Yohm, the man who claimed to
love a woman like her, and smiled. For someone who had
lived with the coldest of frozen hearts for the past several
centuries, those words were as gentle as a spring breeze.

Those words are all I need…
Steeling her resolve, she began to walk off by herself.
“Where’re you going, Mjurran?”
“Oh, Gruecith. Did you need something?”
“Heh! Not exactly, no.”
But he was clearly trying to follow her.
She tried to get away, recalling how Clayman had acted
around her just a moment ago. He was always so calm and
collected, but his orders just now hid a twinge of panic
behind them. “You will trigger the magic as soon as
possible,” he had said before shutting off their link.
Something unexpected must have happened.
“Hey, speaking of which, did you see the new dessert
they’re offering at the dining hall? It’s called a ‘cream puff’
or something, and Yohm said it was the best thing he ever
had. Wanna try it out with me?”
Gruecith couldn’t have acted more carefree. It annoyed
Mjurran a bit. His smile was already starting to corrode her
steely resolve.
“I appreciate the invite, but sorry. Yohm brought one for

me last night. He said it was a present.”

“Pfft. That bastard… Trying to get a leg up on me again.”

“A leg up? What’re you talking about? I have a bit of an

errand to do, so if we could talk later—”

“An errand? I’ll really get to see you later?”

“Er, of course. Why wouldn’t you?”

She did her best to brush him off, leaving Gruecith

behind on the path.

“Well, I got the weirdest news just now, y’know?” He

pointed his eyes at Mjurran. “Something about the demon

lord Milim declaring war on my leader. It sounded insane to
me, but you’re acting pretty weird, too, so I was just
wondering.”

Ah. There we go. Now Mjurran understood. She had no
idea why the demon lords Milim and Carillon were at odds

with each other, but she was sure Clayman was pulling the

strings yet again. He was pulling them—and then

something happened that he hadn’t expected. Maybe

Milim’s declaration of war was outside his prediction?
Maybe his plan was to have Milim launch a surprise attack
on the Beast Kingdom, with Mjurran launching a spell to

coincide with that. But now that Milim was going off script,

she imagined, the whole thing was falling apart.
But why does he want to cut off all communication from

this country?
Englesia and Tempest had an agreement with each other,

but against an angered Milim, they simply didn’t have

enough war power. What would be the point of cutting their

—?

Then it struck her like a bolt of lightning.
…Oh. He’s afraid of that slime Rimuru. That slime might
just have the power to change Milim’s mind, after all.
The demon lord Clayman feared Rimuru, a presence

increasingly becoming an X factor in his life, joining the

fray. So he ordered Mjurran to prevent Carillon from

contacting Tempest’s leaders, who’d then surely relay his

SOS to Rimuru. The longer she dallied, the angrier
Clayman would be with her. She needed to launch it at
once.

“Plus,” Gruecith continued, “knowing you, I’m sure
you’re already aware, but the top leaders in this nation are
pretty damn busy right now. Do anything funny at a time
like this, and it’ll be your life, y’know?”

He was right. The top staff in Tempest were, to say the
least, flustered. Some mysterious armed group had been
approaching their territory for the past few days, requiring
the full attention of Soei and his agents. There were storm
clouds ahead, it seemed, and everyone could practically
feel the tension among the leaders.

“Oh? I didn’t know.”
Something was happening. Something beyond Clayman’s
expectations. It unnerved her. There was no telling what it
could be. She had to launch that magic at once, or else
Clayman, crazed with fury, might just kill her and
everybody else in this town. And Gruecith just refused to
let her go.
“‘I didn’t know’ ain’t gonna cut it, lady. I can’t let you do
anything weird right now—you got that?”
“What kind of nonsense is that…? If you’re fighting
against Milim, aren’t you in much more danger than any of
us?”
“Oh? You talk like you know her. Don’t worry about me.
Lord Carillon is invincible. I don’t care how strong Milim is;
I couldn’t even think of my lord tasting defeat. What I care
about more right now is you, Mjurran!”
“Look, really, what are you—?”
“Let’s stop playing games here. You’re magic-born,
aren’t you?”
Maybe she’d be able to talk her way out of this. But right
up to the end, Mjurran never considered the option of
deceiving Gruecith.
“Huh. Your mind’s always the sharpest when it comes to

things like that, isn’t it? Well, no point hiding it. I think the
ogre mages spotted it, too.”

“So why?!”
“Because I have to. Listen, Gruecith, I like you a lot, too
—as a friend. But if you’re going to get in my way right
now…I’m ready to kill you.”
With that, Mjurran did away with her magic-driven
human disguise, revealing her original magic-born form.
“Ah…?!”
Gruecith quivered under the pair of large eyeballs boring
down into him, virtually roaring with flame.
“Why are you so ready to…? Are you preparing to die?
What for? What…? You’ve got a master giving you orders,
don’t you?”
“I don’t see any need to answer that.”
For Gruecith, that was as good as a yes.
“Y’know, they said Lord Clayman’s notorious for using
his minions like throwaway cannon fodder. You aren’t—?”
“Enough from you! Say one more word, and I will kill
you, Gruecith!”
Seeing the normally immovable Mjurran descend into
such a panic told him everything else he needed to know.
“Oh. I get it. If you’re willing to follow him straight to
your own death—”
He was interrupted before he could finish.
“—Let me hear more about that.”
It was Yohm, using all-but-perfect camouflage skills to
trick them as he strolled out from underneath the trees. He
usually took great pains to look out for Mjurran. There was
no way he wouldn’t notice her bizarre behavior.
“Yohm…”
She had revealed her secret to the one person she least
wanted to—but, oddly, it filled her with a sense of relief. A
relief that turned into surprise at what he had to say next.
“Mjurran, you have to believe in me. I swear I’ll protect
you.”

“What are you, crazy? You can see perfectly well by now
—I’m a high-level magic-born! How is a human weaker than
me supposed to keep me safe?!”

Yohm ignored the frantic plea, growing unusually
passionate.

“Human? Magic-born? None of that stuff matters, man! I
fell in love with you. I love your face, I love your scent, I
love your warmth. The way you live, the way you hold
yourself all proud like that. I love all of it. And that means
everything to me!!”

“…What are you saying? All that was just a fantasy
created to trick you.”

“Don’t worry, Mjurran. I’m prepared to let you keep on
trickin’ me…right up to the day I die!”

“Nh…!!”
What an idiot, she thought from the bottom of her heart.
But it was such a bold, pleading declaration that it struck
her completely dumb.
“Heh. I won, didn’t I? You’ve fallen for me?” He flashed
her the biggest smile she had ever seen. “I swear I’ll
believe in you until I die. If I do, then how’s that any
different from it being the truth, huh?”
Mjurran still lacked the words. You’re so stupid. So, so
stupid. But if that’s how you are, then I…
“Heh-heh-heh. What a pitiful man you are. I approached
you because I wanted to take advantage of you. You’re so
pathetic; it makes me laugh. This is ridiculous. Enough of
this charade!”
And with that cold rejoinder, Mjurran began to cast.
There was no more time left to waver. The tears she felt on
her cheeks surely must have been her imagination.
“No! Stop, you fool! You’re really…?!”
“What’s going on, Gruecith?”
With a beautiful, lilting voice, the spell unfurled itself—
and the laws of the world began to be rewritten. Yohm and
Gruecith were already powerless to stop it. If they could,

the only real way would be to kill her. And if that happened,
she was okay with it. But she simply had to complete this
spell.

She continued to chant, as if in prayer—with her heart
and soul, aching to protect the man she loved.

The scene in Tempest was even more chaotic than Gruecith
thought—even before everything went to pieces, just as
Mjurran neared the end of her work.

Benimaru, drowning under a deluge of hurried reports,
already looked sick of it all. The most worrying one had
come from a sentry posted at a substation a few days ago,
by way of Gobta. “Uh, Benimaru,” he’d said, “I guess
there’s this bunch of humans in full armor, and they’re
headed right this way. The sentry asked what they wanted,
and they just said, ‘We have no need to speak with
underlings!’ and marched on.”

Soei had quickly been dispatched to investigate. It was a
group of knights, over a hundred in number, and Benimaru
decided they could no longer be ignored. Soei kept
gathering intel, along with Soka and his other men. Soon,
they’d pinpointed the group’s origin: the Kingdom of
Farmus.

As long as the Farmus platoon’s goals were unclear,
working with them had been difficult. Thus, Benimaru had
Soei’s team keep a close eye on them as he’d discussed the
increasingly worrisome issue with Rigurd.

“Perhaps we should inform Sir Rimuru?”
“Ah,” Rigurd had replied, “after he left us to watch this
town, is it really good to keep pestering him?”
“Perhaps. He makes frequent return trips at night, so we

could inform him then.”
That brought them to now. Rimuru, after all, could use

his Warp Portal to come back here any time he wanted. So
Benimaru left his briefing for later and worked on the
medley of other issues awaiting his attention. It was all
very unfamiliar work, and being chased constantly by it
made the days pass like lightning.

In the midst of all this, Soei’s team sent a report from
Farmus itself. The kingdom was apparently engaging in
rapid preparations for war. It made Benimaru wrinkle his
eyebrows.

“This might be bad news for us, Rigurd.”
“I’m afraid so. Not something we can afford to take so
casually. I think we had best have Sir Rimuru back here at
once.”
The two looked at each other. They both concluded that
handling this brigade of knights the wrong way could very
well lead to war. So Benimaru tried contacting Rimuru—but
before he could, he received an emergency magical
communication from Alvis, the Golden Snakehorn and one
of Eurazania’s Three Lycanthropeers.

“The Beast Kingdom will enter hostilities with the demon
lord Milim in one week’s time. As a result, I want you to
accept the citizens we are evacuating.”

The delays Mjurran experienced in deploying her anti-
magic zone allowed this message to squeak its way
through. Although Clayman himself should take some of the
blame—Milim’s flight speed was so fast that she reached
Eurazania far ahead of his planned schedule. Not that it
mattered to Benimaru. No, the portent of this news was so
vital that it seemed to change the very air around them.

“You must be joking!”
At once, the top leaders of Tempest were gathered—

Rigurd and Rigur, Lilina and the other chief hobgoblins,
Kaijin as a special adviser, Shuna as secretary, Shion as
Rimuru’s representative, plus Hakuro and Geld. Nearly a
dozen people crammed into the meeting hall. Gabil was not
in attendance, not having been appointed to this level of
leadership yet. Instead, he was simply advised that an
emergency was underway and to stand by until further
orders. Kaijin also informed Vester of the news, telling him
to maintain regular contact with King Gazel of Dwargon as
needed.

And in the midst of all this, the very party of humans
who had vexed Benimaru earlier arrived, disguised as
merchants.

Dude! This town’s more advanced than the capital of
Farmus!

Shogo couldn’t hide his surprise.
He and his otherworlder friends were trundling into
town, a single knight serving as their coachman while the
rest of the hundred-strong team kept their distance. The
unexpected sight of the town rendered him speechless. It
was amazing. Nothing about the term monster town had
prepared him for this. The sewer system kept all foul-
smelling odors at bay—and, really, the monsters walking
around seemed more identifiably human than any other
species. They were clean, bathed, and wearing more proper
clothing than many of the merchants and townspeople
around Farmus.
One look was all it took to confirm that life here was far
more bountiful than life over there. It was packed with
adventurers, merchants briskly running to and fro as they

carried out their business.
Goddamn! I’ve been ripped off this whole time! Why the

hell’re the monsters livin’ better than we are?!
The initial waves of shock were wearing off. Now, within

Shogo, a darker well of anger was beginning to rise. The
same was true with Kirara.

“Um, what’s the deal with this? Like, why’re these guys
living way swankier than we are? Something’s got to be
wrong here.”

“Ahh, don’t get too angry,” Kyoya said—but even he
couldn’t help but feel it was unfair. His eyes were squinted,
brooding with resentment.

“And this whole place is run by a slime, yeah? If we kick
its ass, we can take over this joint, can’t we?”

“That’s, like, the best damn idea I ever heard, Shogo!
Let’s do it!”

“I’m fine with that, too, but we can’t stray from our
orders too much.”

“Oh, it’ll be fine! I’m just sayin’—they told us to kick up a
ruckus before the rest of the knights showed up, right?
Everything’ll work out great!”

“Totally. Like, they wanna stage it like we’re a bunch of
lawful citizens and the monsters attacked us out of
nowhere, yeah? I can just use Bewilder to set up some
kinda pretext, and all the non-monster adventurers will do
whatever I want.”

Kirara liked her chances, and she had reason to. It was
the main reason why the three of them were here. And
neither of her friends saw much to worry about, either.

“Yeah,” Kyoya agreed, “that’s pretty much what Sir
Razen told us to do.”

“Pfft. Quit callin’ that asshole ‘sir’ around me!”
“Totally. I hope that dude gets a heart attack or
something. Then we’d be, like, free and stuff.”
“Ha-ha-ha! Sorry, just a habit,” Kyoya said. “We can’t
really dis him to his face, you know?”

His lighter approach had a distinct motivation behind it.
Kyoya, unlike the others, was still hiding his true character
in this world to some extent. For now, he felt, it was best to
play the loyal student around Farmus circles.

As they spoke, Shogo mentally went over his orders one
more time, growing increasingly impatient to kick some
ass. “I don’t care what kind of excuse you have to make,”
Razen had told them. “Just start some kind of trouble—then
you, Kirara, use your power to get the adventurers on your
side! We’ll begin taking action once you do.”

Farmus was currently engaged with a total of three
otherworlders. That alone was enough war power to
decimate a smaller country. It was rare to deploy three at
once, but the government wanted to cover for the
possibility that another otherworlder was aiding the
monsters.

Once Shogo and his friends began their business, the
coachman driving their wagon would send off a signal to
begin the rest of the operation. The otherworlders weren’t
informed of the exact details, but nothing they’d do would
be any hindrance to them, and presumably it’d make things
even more favorable for victory. Shogo despised Razen, but
even he had to praise his talents. If he weren’t a gifted
magic-user, all three of them would’ve been free long ago.

Now he ran a hand through his well-oiled hair, lifting it
up like the comb of a chicken.

“All right. How ’bout we get things moving?”

Kirara was the first to take action.
“Aaahhhhh!! You—you touched my butt just now, didn’t
you? You tryin’ to do somethin’ to me?”
She had deliberately bumped herself against what
seemed to be the perfect target—a kind of dopey-looking
sentry who was staring into space. This was Gobzo, a guard
under Gobta’s command and a hobgoblin known even

among his own species for being a bit special.
“Unhhh? I—I didn’t do anything!”
He lifted up his arms, head swiveling around in search of

some kind of support.
“Hey! Don’t, like, play dumb with me! Just tell me what

you slapped me there for. All right?”
Kirara drew closer to him as she spoke—then, suddenly,

she jerked her body backward and tumbled to the ground.
“Owww!! Help! Somebody call the guards!”
“Wh-wha—? No! I didn’t even do nothin’! I, uh…I am a

guard…”
Gobzo was already starting to tear up a bit. He was the

victim here, but frankly, he didn’t have a lot of allies nearby.
The sheer dopiness of his act did little to turn the suspicion
away from him—and Kirara was already deploying
Bewilder, letting it sink in to the minds of human passersby.

“Whoa, the hobgoblin attacked that girl?”
“That’s a town sentry, isn’t it? What kind of sentry would
pull that crap? I can’t believe it.”
“But he just knocked her to the ground, man.”
“Really? I thought the monsters here were supposed to
be nice.”
“They are. Usually. So what’s the deal with this guy?”
The locals were still a bit incredulous, but few to none of
the adventurers and merchant types nearby were willing to
stick up for Gobzo. Nobody had a full grasp of the events,
and it wouldn’t be long before Kirara’s skill had their minds
completely under her control.
Shogo and Kyoya grinned at each other, then took a step
forward to drive the dagger down.
“Whoa, dude, so this town just attacks its visitors
without warning?”
“That’s their plan, huh? Invite merchants and people
over and then strike when they least expect it?”
They shouted as loudly as they could as they walked over
to protect the frightened-looking Kirara. Their trumped-up

charges were lodged. The real show would begin only when
this sentry’s supervisor showed up. If he was apologetic,
they could just ratchet their beef up the ranks, with the
crowd on their side. If he got angry and started throwing
his weight around, that’d be a godsend. Even if he didn’t,
it’d grow into a huge hullabaloo, the rest of the knights
would storm in, and then they’d serve as judge and jury.

Shogo was therefore hoping whoever showed up next
was just as stupid as their first target. He was
disappointed.

“So what’s up?”
Gobta, apparent captain of the sentries, cheerfully
strolled onto the scene—then did something Shogo wasn’t
expecting at all.
“Oh man, Gobzo, not you again! I swear, every single
time something happens, you’re in the middle of it!”
He gave him a bop on the forehead before turning back
toward the otherworlders. “Hey, sorry about that, guys,” he
said with a friendly nod. “I’ll try to educate ’im better.”
“G-Gobta, I, but, I…”
“You didn’t do it? Doesn’t matter. If you’re under
suspicion, you’ve already lost.” He ominously raised an
eyebrow. “Remember what Sir Rimuru said about the
horrors of being falsely accused of assault on the street?”
This raised some eyebrows among the onlookers as well.
“S-so you believe me, Gobta?”
The sentry’s boss sighed. “Why d’you have to ask me
that? You wouldn’t have the guts to do anything anyway.”
Gobzo rewarded him with a hug and a hearty “I’ll follow
you wherever you go, sir!!” as tears streamed down his
cheeks. This didn’t particularly delight Gobta, judging by
the look on his face, but he still patted his sentry’s
shoulders to calm him down.
It wasn’t a sight that pleased Kirara much.
“Whoa, what the hell? Are you saying that I’m, like, lying
or something?”

“Oh, it didn’t sound that way?” a surprised Gobta asked.

It was more than enough to set the girl off.

“Don’t give me that, you piece of shit! You got a lot of

balls, tryin’ to pick a fight with me! Why do you trust this

guy right off? You weren’t even here to see it!”

The shouting did little to affect the unbothered Gobta.

“It’s simple,” he said. “It’s natural for us to trust our

friends.”
“What?! You want me to accept that lame excuse?!”
“Well,” he calmly explained, “if you want me to explain

further, the only girl Gobzo’s got a thing for is Shion, y’see.

Everybody in Tempest knows this, so there’s no way he’d

try puttin’ his hands on a young girl like you, no.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested

this.
“Oh, that’s just mean, Gobta!” Gobzo’s face turned

bright red.

“Yeah, yeah. Everyone already knows, remember?”
“Everyone…?”
Gobta shrugged. “Yeah, everyone. Deal with it, Gobzo.”
“I—I think I won’t follow you wherever you go anymore,
Gobta!”

Now Gobzo was almost as angry as Kirara. Almost.
“Will you stop with this stupid crap?! I’m still here, you
bastards! All of you should just die!!”
There was no longer any plan of action. All Kirara

wanted to do was take everyone making her into a

laughingstock and kill them. Shogo and Kyoya would be the

only ones left standing in this street intersection, probably,
but Kirara was too furious to care. It wasn’t like those guys
cared about Razen’s orders that much. So she screamed it

out without reserve, half smiling as she did. Thanks to

living fairly restricted lives in Farmus, the three

otherworlders were near the ends of their ropes mentally—

and now the rebound was happening.

Already, Kirara could picture the stabbed, mangled

bodies that would litter the street shortly.
But nothing happened.
“Wha…? Huh…?”
““—?!””
The adventurers and merchants looking on were too

busy laughing at Gobzo to die for her. It visibly unnerved
Kirara, as it did Shogo and Kyoya.

“I see,” a gentle but firm voice said to them. “Your skill
converts your voice into streams of force that interfere with
your targets’ brain waves. That’s quite a powerful one, so
I’ll have to prohibit you from using it in our territory.”

It was Shuna. A pair of hobgoblins had reached her to
relay the events just before the conference began. It had
sounded like bad news to her, so she’d run over with Shion
as her bodyguard.

Shuna revealed a breezy smile as her eyes focused upon
Kirara. Her unique Parser skill provided a complete
analysis of the girl’s ability, letting her unleash an aura that
matched and neutralized the waves of force. One look from
her discerning, fearsome eyes was all it took.

“You do not appear to be suitable for this nation. Please
take your leave at once.”

She smiled again—but her eyes were frigid. She could
tell Kirara had meant to kill with that attack, and she
wasn’t about to take that lightly.

“Like…no way…”
Kirara sat weakly upon the ground. Now she knew it.
She was completely outside her element. This woman was
different. Not just another face in the crowd. She was a
real monster.
Her two companions, however, had yet to pick up on this
—or they did, perhaps, but didn’t find it worthy of note.

Kirara had lost, but the violence her friends could mete out
wouldn’t be suppressed by any weird mystic force. They
had absolute confidence in their powers, and now they had
the ideal opportunity to test them out. Besides, the plan
was in full swing, and there was no canceling it at this
point.

“Hmm…”
Shuna’s beauty attracted Shogo’s eye for a moment.
Then he recalled why they were here. To enslave them. And
if a woman as beautiful as this was a monster, there was no
reason not to treat her as a slave.
“That’s your attitude, huh? Well, all right. If you’re up for
it, I’m ready for you!”
His desirous eyes turned to Shuna, analyzing how best to
tackle her. He looked forward to bellowing with laughter as
she lay on the ground, bruised and crying, and continuing
the torment until she begged for mercy.
Then a quiet voice broke his concentration.
“Your licentious thoughts are written all over your face,
lowlife. March straight out of this town, and we’ll let you
live. Refuse to obey, and your life will be forfeit!”
Shion’s slim, well-proportioned body was attired in a
business suit, the epitome of cool beauty as she stepped in
front of Shuna. Her eyes were furious as she strode
forward.
Shogo flashed a ferocious smile. He stood strong, never
even contemplating defeat. “Ha! I like it! Get in my way,
and I’ll crush you!”
“I see. It appears you will not understand until you are
smashed to the ground. Very well. Allow me to engage
you!”
Then the two of them collided.

Kyoya couldn’t wait for this moment. There was no
meddling referee overseeing this sparring match and thus

no need for him to play the star-pupil role. And with Shogo
wrecking things first, he had no reason to be patient any
longer.

“If that’s how it is,” he said with a twisted smile and
drawn sword, “I get free rein, too, don’t I? I was hoping I’d
get to test this out sometime.”

Ever since he’d come to this world, Kyoya had been
waiting for the tides to turn in his favor. Now, the time had
come. Before his eyes was Shuna, with Gobta and Gobzo
behind her.

Heh-heh-heh… I can’t wait to see how much I can do!
“Hoo boy. Gobzo, protect Lady Shuna for me.”
“Yes, sir, Gobta!”
Gobta drew his dagger and lowered himself for combat.
Kyoya did the same, sword straight ahead of his eyes. He
was a talent in kendo, and his unique skill—known as
Severer—was focused entirely on slicing and dicing.
It was backed by his natural-born fencing talents and the
extra skill All-Seeing Eye. The skill allowed him to fully
grasp the situation around him, as if watching the action
from a video game’s camera perspective. It blasted this
information straight into his eyes, boosting his reaction
time—and thanks to Mind Accelerate, he could recognize
and address threats three hundred times faster than
normal.
With these three skill powers in hand, Kyoya had become
the greatest swordsman in both Farmus and the rest of the
Western Nations. Razen had ordered him to keep these
powers hidden, but that order was no longer valid. Kyoya
finally had his chance to unleash them all, and it made the
blood surge through his body.
“Haaa-ha-ha-ha! With these kinda skills, not even that
old lady Hinata could challenge me, much less some wimp
like you!”
With a final hearty laugh, Kyoya descended upon Gobta.





***

The conference began in the meeting hall, minus Shuna
and Shion.

“All right,” declared Benimaru. “Are we all ready? It is
time to call for Sir Rimuru!”

He launched the Thought Communication.
Nothing happened.
The line was silent.
“I—I can’t connect to Sir Rimuru…?!”
The whisper from Benimaru plunged the meeting hall
into silence. Silence then gave way to panic. The hall
bustled with worried faces and hurried speech. Even
Benimaru, who was scarcely ever rattled, instantly turned
pale. That was how much Rimuru’s silence filled them with
a sense of impending doom.

It was around that moment when Mjurran’s incantation
reached its completion.

In an instant, all magic disappeared, throwing the entire
town into a state of chaos. The townspeople moved to
evacuate their panicked guests, but the effort didn’t last—
or, really, wasn’t even possible. Because alongside
Mjurran’s high magic, another secret spell launched itself—
Prison Field, the result of extended research on the part of
Archbishop Reyhiem. It worked on the same principle as
Holy Field, the spell used on an official basis by the
Church’s crusader teams, but modified so even the less-
experienced Temple Knights could set it off if several of
them worked together.

The buildings sagged down, creaking painfully. The
merchants ran for cover, the adventurers trying to protect
them. Some basked in the mayhem; others tried to save the
town from it. The multiple factors tangled together to
spread chaos, creating a day of disaster unlike any Tempest

had seen before.





CHAPTER 3

DESPAIR AND HOPE

Ensuring the magical field was dispelled, I crept back
outside, breathing a sigh of relief. I could feel my
Replication-driven other half disappear.

Ranga half threw himself out of my shadow. “You are
safe, my master!” Being cut off must have alarmed him
beyond belief, his hair standing on end from all the nerves.
I gave him a pet, trying to reassure him that everything
was okay.

This time, though, it was like… Holy crap. That bit of
insurance I took out at the start wound up saving my hide,
but man, talk about a hairbreadth. When I was locked up in
that Holy Field, that put me at one hell of a disadvantage.
Trying to hold my own in combat there, with no idea who I
was fighting or how strong they were, would’ve been
idiotic.

Realizing that, I created a Replication and got my core
slime self the hell out of there. My human-form Replication
was a full magical corpus of sorts, created by slapping a
whole bunch of magicules together; it couldn’t move too
quickly, but it was a small price to pay if my “main” body
could escape. Looking at it that way, it was a small miracle
I kept that corpus going as long as I did. I wanted to pat
myself on the back. That’s how rough that Holy Field was.

But hey, at least I made it. Now I was kinda glad I’d
treated Hakuro’s training in the Formhide skill so seriously.
If that lady Hinata had considered the possibility of a
Replication in the mix, it would’ve been all over… But I
guess she wasn’t that wary of me. Few people would be.

And that wound up saving my life.
It sure taught me a lesson, though. I had to keep a closer

eye on myself, no doubt. Oh, and I almost forgot: I was
hiding my aura, since I was in combat until just now, but it
might be seeping out by this point. I’m pretty sure I’m able
to keep it perfectly hidden these days, but let’s just be
doubly careful about buttoning that up.

With that in mind, I crafted a new mask within my
Stomach. It was a copy of the first Mask of Magic
Resistance I saw, but I got rid of all the traits I didn’t need
and boosted its core magical resistance instead. Then I
shape-shifted into human form and put it on. That should
keep Hinata from picking up on my presence. I think.

Still—that Hinata lady was just way too powerful. Off the
charts. If that Holy Field wasn’t there and she put her full
force into it, what then? I had the creeping suspicion that,
nine times outta ten, I would lose.

Such were the thoughts in my mind as I looked back at
how the Glutton had fought for me back there.

………
……
…
When I awaken the Glutton inside me, it is, to put it
broadly, kind of like executing a program. A highly
destructive virus of sorts, one that consumes everything
within eyeshot. That was why her rapier caused no pain as
it slashed into my body.
The Glutton had been transforming my own physical
body, as Hinata looked on in astonishment. This was a
freshly harnessed “complete” form of Universal Shapeshift
in action. It let me transform my body such that it boasted
only the most useful aspects of every monster I had
consumed in the past, creating a well-oiled battle machine.
The Glutton absorbed the grass, the earth, the air around

me to rebuild myself into this new physical form.

Inside the Holy Field, I hadn’t even had the magicules to

create a new magical corpus for myself. But the Glutton

pretty much forced it to happen, taking in regular physical

objects and using them to power myself up.

Hinata brought her rapier back a bit, no doubt sensing
the danger. That wound up saving her life. As out of control
as it had become, the Glutton was lunging upon both the

rapier and Hinata herself, using sound, heat, and scent to

track down her position. If she reacted any later than she

did, she would’ve been torn apart by that ravenous

appetite, maybe.

As Hinata looked on in fright, the Glutton completed the

transformation. Standing there now was a beast in the

shape of a person. The only signs of my former self were

the golden pupils and the slightly bluish-silver hair. My

body rippled with malice, looking every bit like a demon

from hell.

“I can’t believe it,” Hinata whispered. But the surprise

was already gone from her face. She was peering intently

at me, like an excited scientist making a new discovery. Her

Dead End Rainbow skill slashed right into people’s spirits—

but since it didn’t kill me, she understood now that the
Glutton had no spirit, no will of its own. It was a soul in its
purest form, the origin of the power that lies at the root of

man and monster.
A soul is a consciousness, by definition, but that alone

didn’t provide the consciousness any way to express itself.
It still needed an astral body to operate upon and begin the
thought process—but that wasn’t enough, either, since any

thoughts produced would just dissipate into the wind.
That’s where the spiritual body came in, to record and keep
those thoughts captive. Even that was still a virtual
memory, though, not any kind of permanent storage—and
so we come to the material body.

If one had enough mental fortitude, they could recover

all their memories even if their brain was permanently
damaged. The fact that you saw spiritual life-forms among
the monsters was proof enough of that. But if the spirit is
damaged, that likely wounds the astral body deeply, even if
the brain is left intact. If that wound reaches the soul,
resurrection is no longer possible.

That applied equally to every living thing in this world—
from the weakest creatures all the way up to dragons and
elemental monsters.

By this point, Hinata fully understood what the Glutton
was capable of. A sweet smile crossed her face, her
piercing eyes shining brightly as she considered her
countermeasures. She had lost her rapier now, but not even
that seemed to bother her much. And then she removed an
amulet from her pocket and threw it at me.

“Astral Bind!”
A skill that restricted the astral body, the vessel of the
soul, instead of the material one. It still couldn’t stop the
Glutton.
Realizing this, Hinata gave me a scornful frown. Before
the Glutton, its limbs morphing and transforming in
unpredictable ways as it lurched toward her, she showed
not a single moment of agitation. If anything, she was still
calmly observing me. Through all the Glutton’s twists and
turns, she kept dodging every attack by mere millimeters.
She predicted every move.
“I see,” she whispered. “So you’re already dead.” She
shook her head. “You’re going to be obstinate right up to
the end, aren’t you? Why are you pestering me like this?
Continuing to have it attack your foe, even after death… If
someone doesn’t completely wipe this thing out, it’s gonna
threaten the whole world someday.”
Hinata’s face remained taut as she summoned several
non-elemental spirits from thin air. They followed her

orders, mobbing the Glutton. The effort did little apart from
sacrificing the spirits to stop it in its tracks temporarily.

The only magic that could be used within a Holy Field
involves amulets, Battlewill, spirits, and the like. Among
them, Hinata now chose one of the greatest of holy magics,
a powerful attack that she usually kept as one of her last
resorts. Tracing complex shapes with her outstretched
hands, she crafted a geometrical design in the air,
stretching it out into a layered, physically present magic
circle. In the middle of it was the berserk, spirit-consuming
Glutton, unconscious, unthinking, and pitiful.

“Let me provide you a prayer to the divine. I hope and
desire for the power of the holy spirits. Listen to my appeal
and overcome all in your way! Disintegration!!”

The request, delivered in Hinata’s beautiful voice, was
granted. The resulting show of force was literally divine,
enough to crush all physical and spiritual presences within
its defined space. It was the ultimate in targeted,
destructive magic, emitting flashes of white light as it
poured from Hinata’s hands to the circle. It sped out at
thousands of miles per hour, almost at light speed, as its
holy power made cells and souls vanish without a trace. It
was more than enough to make the Glutton disappear, not
affecting the space around it at all.

………
……
…
That’s what the battle record told me. I was watching
from the side, as if it was on TV or something, and it was
simply breathtaking.
One thing I earned from this battle was Hinata’s broken
rapier. I was able to run it through the Stomach to take it
for myself. More important than that, though, was the info I
gleaned about her magic and skills. I had deliberately set
the Glutton out of control, linking it to the Great Sage itself
without going through my own spirit. I had no spiritual link

to it myself; it was operating purely on its own volition.

That was why, even when it took Hinata’s final Dead End

Rainbow strike, it didn’t affect me at all.

I didn’t think I could win with it. Not from the start.

That’s why I ordered it to gather data for me, so I could

come up with a better solution—and that’s what I was

poring over now.

That Disintegration, though… Wow. It was enough of a

threat to send a chill up my spine. If I had taken that strike

first thing, I would’ve been defenseless. It would’ve gone

right through my Multilayer Barrier and made me vanish

instantly. Its only weakness was the amount of time it

required to cast, but with that kind of force, it was only a

minor quibble. Hinata made excellent use of it.

It was definitely no joke. I wondered why Hinata even

bothered with that magical barrier at all if she was that
strong. I hate dealing with a foe who’s both powerful and
careful. With my Replication, I couldn’t do more than slice

a few hairs off her head. No wonder she was so confident,
not even bothering with armor or anything. If that’s what
she brought to the table, I was correct to focus on escaping

that barrier from the very beginning.
Are all otherworlders and summoners that strong, the

way Yuuki said? If so, I’ll have to assume that every one I
encounter has a unique skill and prepare appropriately for
that. I was under the impression that I was pretty strong
myself, but after that experience with Hinata, my

confidence was completely shattered. Maybe the wound to

my pride was exactly what I needed.

Getting to experience Disintegration for myself was a

windfall, too. The moment she deployed that layered magic

circle, it was all over. There was simply no way to deal with

it, apart from fleeing or interfering with her before the

circle was complete. Would’ve been nice if I could have

Analyzed and Assessed it, but I was too busy trying not to
die to consider that. It can’t always be that easy. The

moment I saw it, after all, my data link with the Sage cut
right out and I (my non-Replicated self) got dizzy in the
head. It’s impossible to avoid once you see it, and the
layered barrier it emitted had a heat-seeking property as
well—if you can’t get out of its trail, you can’t avoid a direct
hit.

Could Milim have handled it? I’ll have to ask her next
time.

I told Ranga about everything that happened as I
checked up on my own body. I was physically fine, no
longer affected by the Holy Field. What was up with Hinata,
though? She refused to listen to me, breaking out the big
guns with no provocation whatsoever. Maybe I shouldn’t
have taken the bait, but I only did because I thought I could
win. Sure proved me wrong. Not that I lost, exactly.
Sometimes the best winning strategy you have is to run,
you know? And that’s what I tried to do from the start, so if
I made it out, I won.

You could, if you squinted hard enough, call this a
tactical victory. Plus I gathered all this valuable data. It
wouldn’t be going too far to call it a win. A tie, at least, if I
wanted to be generous.

I’m definitely not being a sore loser, all right?

But enough joking around. I was worried about everyone
in town, so I decided to head over at once.

Attempting to teleport myself to Tempest, I caught wind of
something odd. I had tried to take a Warp Portal back to my
own place, but the magic failed to activate.

Report. Impossible to specify a target location. The cause
is believed to be some kind of barrier isolating the area.

Uh-oh. It sounds like someone’s trying to destroy
Tempest, just as Hinata said. Better get back quick, or else
I’ll have nothing to go back to.

Even as I thought that, the Great Sage was searching for
places still available for teleportation. Soon, it tracked
down the magic circle inside the cave that Gabil was
guarding.

“Let’s go!” I shouted to Ranga as we hurriedly made the
warp.

Gabil and the others were assembled at the Sealed
Cave’s magic circle, waiting for us. The moment he saw us,
Gabil ran up, looking visibly relieved.

“Ohhh! Sir Rimuru, you are safe!”
He then briefed me on events. “…And then, just after we
received word that Lady Milim would wage war against the
Beast Kingdom of Eurazania in a week’s time, I lost contact
with Sir Benimaru. Concerned, I made contact with Soka,
but apparently no one outside the cave could reach our
leaders, either.”
“I told King Gazel as well,” Vester added, “but it was
hard for us to make any concrete moves, given the lack of
information at hand…”
Certainly, the king of dwarves would’ve had too little
knowledge to provide any real support. He must have been
terribly concerned. He had last made contact via
communication crystal about an hour ago, but nothing
beyond that, despite a second call being expected. Thought
Communication didn’t work, either, and just as they were
discussing among themselves what to do, I came back.
I guess the bad feeling I had about all this was right. No
doubt about it; something terrible was taking place. But

why couldn’t we even contact anyone in town?
As I thought about this, Soei leaped out of my shadow,

just as Soka and his other men had jumped out of Gabil’s.
“Sir Rimuru, it is a tremendous relief to see you safe and

sound.”
He had apparently lost contact with me just as I was

using Replication to save myself from Hinata, causing him a
great deal of consternation.

“Whoa, Soei, I’m a lot more worried about you than me
at the moment!”

He was both wounded and exhausted. Vester jogged off
to fetch him a Full Potion to drink.

“Forgive me for interrupting, but Sir Soei was injured
attempting to escape the barrier deployed around
Tempest.”

“Silence, Soka. I am fine. Sir Rimuru, I am afraid the
situation does not bode well for us…”

The story he had for me was a shock. There was a
military force from Farmus marching straight for Tempest.
Soei, learning this, hurried back to tell Benimaru but was
blocked by a barrier placed around town, preventing
access. Bashing right into it, his “real” body got away with
“just an injury” (he said in his oh-so-Soei-like way) and all
his Replication copies were expended. Anyone else
would’ve died in a hurry. Regardless, his men were just
about to attempt to break through the barrier when they
noticed I was back.

Soei’s apparent nervousness was entirely due to my
disappearance, it seemed. A lot of things must’ve happened
in the past half hour or so, Hinata’s attack on me being one
of them.

“Well, sorry I made you worry, Soei.”
“Not at all, Sir Rimuru. As long as you are safe, there is
nothing to complain about.”
I appreciated the thought, but if I had returned to
Tempest faster, I might never have run into Hinata at all. I

had left for my own selfish reasons, and I had better make
up for it.

Before that, though:
“So if the Kingdom of Farmus is moving against us, was
it them who built the barrier over town?”
“It is likely so, yes.”
“In that case, everyone in town is in danger?!”
The thought made my mind begin to race. Hinata had
cost me a dear amount of time. We couldn’t sit here talking
all day, I decided. I needed to head to town, fast.
“Gabil, you guys guard the cave. Keep Vester and the
dwarven potion staff safe! If any intruders come in, try your
best to capture them alive.”
“Yes, my lord!”
“Sir Rimuru, what should we do about contacting King
Gazel?”
“Ah… Wait until I get a grasp of the situation. Right now,
all we’d do is worry him further.”
“Very true. All right. Be safe!”
I could understand Vester’s concern, but there wasn’t
much I could say to the king yet. He already had his
preliminary report; he would have to wait a bit for more.
“I’ll go on ahead.”
“Yes, sir! We will follow soon behind.”
I attempted to use Shadow Motion to head for town, only
to remember the skill had evolved into Spatial Motion.
“Hold on, Soei. Let’s go together, actually. All of you!”
“Huh?”
I launched Spatial Motion without further explanation,
connecting our current location with a point just outside
the barrier. There was a hole in the air, just large enough
for a person to shimmy through, and our target point was
on the other side. Talk about convenient.
“The cave’s in your hands, Gabil!”
“Yes, my lord! I will await further orders!”
He and his men nodded at me as I stepped through the

portal. In another moment, we were outside of town, Soei
and his team behind me. Soei seemed calm, but Soka and
the others were pretty wary of traveling this way. I guess I
couldn’t blame them. Wish I’d had the time to explain
things in detail, but…you know.

Now I had an ominous-looking barrier in front of me. If
someone as powerful and talented as Soei couldn’t bust
through it, it must be a pretty damn strong one, too. I
brought my left hand up to it, absorbing part of its surface,
and ran Analyze and Assess.

Understood. The effects of Great Magic: Anti-Magic Area
are detected, albeit with a reduction in magicule density. It
runs on the same principle as Holy Field but is not uniform in
composure, some areas being less dense than others. It is
impure, likely an inferior version. Anyone inside it will be
affected, but the effects can be resisted with Multilayer
Barrier.

Well, if it’s inferior, then no worries. Let’s head on in. I
had Benimaru and everyone else to worry about right now.
Plus, the way the Great Sage put it, any “great magic”
needed to have its caster in the middle of it, but this barrier
was activated from the outside. It was a large-scale casting,
likely requiring several people—more than one or two—
taking care of it.

“Soei, track down the guys casting this barrier so I can
take them out. Do not engage in combat with them. Just
bring all your men to them and gauge their strength.”

“Yes, sir. How should we contact you?”
I produced a string of Sticky Steel Thread and wrapped
it around his neck. “How about this? Run it through this
strand, and we should be able to pick up on each other.”
“I see. That should work…”

Upon testing it out, we found that Thought
Communication worked as long as you cast it through the
Thread, inside and outside the barrier.

“Right. Get going! I’ll head over if you run into trouble. If
you think you can beat them, neutralize them, but don’t kill
anyone.”

“Yes, sir!”
Then all five of them—Soei, Soka, and their three
trainees—disappeared without a sound. Man, they really
were like ninjas. They’d easily hold their own against a
high-level magic-born, no doubt, if Soei was leading them.
But right now, we had to be careful. A single mistake
could kill us. Every possibility had to be addressed. Along
those lines, I had the Sage continue its analysis, hoping it’d
find a way to remove the barrier from the inside. Soei had
his orders, and I had mine. It was time to break in.

There were magicules left in the air around town, although
not as much as before. If it wasn’t for the Anti-Magic Area
over it, you’d be able to cast magic to some extent. The
Sage was right; my Multilayer Barrier made me feel no ill
effects at all. This was far weaker than the Holy Field,
which was a relief.

Running through town, I headed toward our main office
off the central plaza. The space was filled with people, the
atmosphere tense and panicked. Something definitely did
happen. It worried me.

Realizing I was there, the crowd opened a path for me
and fell to their knees. A few of them ran toward me. There
was Rigurd, sprinting at top speed, with Rigur, Lilina, and
the hobgoblin elders following behind.

“Sir Rimuru! It is wonderful to see you back. I am so
glad you’re safe…”

He kneeled, practically clinging to my legs, looking
about ready to burst into tears.

“Yeah. Sorry I made you worry.”
“Oh, not at all!!” he said in abject relief, before he did
indeed burst into tears. The rest of them also knelt,
keeping a polite distance away from Rigurd and me as they
celebrated my return. I guess losing contact with me
worried people a lot more than I thought it would.
Not everyone there was bawling over me, though.
“Nice to see you back, boss,” Kaijin said, his voice taut.
It sounded like he was painfully trying to keep the worry
from showing. I could feel emotions a lot more instinctively
from the monsters, but I had a feeling he was hiding his at
the moment as well. Garm and his two dwarven brothers
were there, too, blocking the way to the plaza as if trying to
prevent me from going there.
“Follow me to our meeting room, if you could,” Rigurd
said as he calmed down from his crying jag and stood up.
“There are things I wish to report and discuss with you.”
Now he was back to his usual bold self—no time for
sobbing here—and his voice was firm and unyielding. He
was ready to do what needed to be done. The building he
led me to was away from the plaza; I guess he didn’t want
me in there, either. What was going on? It worried me a
little.
“Here, Rigurd, you and Kaijin get out of the way. What’s
going on?”
“Oh, um, just a small hiccup…”
“No talking your way out of it. Let me through.”
The Coercion skill I interlaced with my words made them
all give up, opening the way for me. Just as they did, an
explosion rumbled a little distance from the plaza. Even
with the lowered magicule density, I could recognize the
aura as Benimaru’s—and judging by the sounds of things,
he was in battle.
“Is he fighting someone? Let’s go!”

I ran for the area. Rigurd and the others followed behind
me, expressions of relief on their faces (not that they
noticed).

As I expected, Benimaru was in battle—well, not a battle
so much as him heaping one-sided torment upon his
opponent. There was a team of high orcs surrounding him,
all clad in black armor, led by Geld and watching the
proceedings instead of helping Benimaru out. Geld was
usually cool as a cucumber, but just like Benimaru, he was
fired up right now.

His opponent was the beastman Gruecith. I wondered
why someone serving Carillon was drawing Benimaru’s ire
like that, but then I noticed Yohm behind him, lying limply
on the ground, and a beautiful woman I had never seen
before cradling him. It seemed like Gruecith was trying to
protect them. Benimaru had yet to draw his sword, but his
aura was practically gushing from his body, making it clear
he was struggling to hold back his anger.

“You seek to protect this woman, too?” he asked. “We
don’t have time for this right now. Get out of here at once.”

“Heh-heh! Can’t do that. No way I’d hand her over when
all of you are so worked up like this!”

“Oh, ‘worked up,’ you say? If I was ‘worked up,’ I would
have turned you into a pile of ash long ago, trust me. Just
give it up and—”

“Not gonna happen! I’m on her side, no matter what!”
Then Gruecith sprang into action, zooming toward the
still-unarmed Benimaru. He transformed in an instant,
turning into what looked like a gray-furred werewolf. His
speed was far beyond what he showed in the fight with
Yohm as he rushed ahead, confronting him with a dagger in
each hand.
“I told you to give it up!”
The daggers instantly vaporized the moment they made

contact with the aura protecting Benimaru. It made
Gruecith freeze in his tracks, just enough to let Benimaru
catch him, pick him up with a single left hand, and hurl him
against the ground. There was a dull thudding sound as
cracks appeared in the earth. Blood flowed from his head.

It was the first demonstration of Benimaru’s force I had
seen in a while, and it was on a completely different level
from his opponent. Without even really trying, he had
victory in hand from the start. But Gruecith refused to give
up, springing right back to his feet.

“Ngh… But I’m still…”
“Pfft. Enough of this nonsense. If you continue to resist
me, I will be forced to kill you, you understand?”
He tried lifting Gruecith again, a look of resignation on
his face.
“Benimaru, stop!”
It was then that I finally shouted and put an end to this.

Noticing me, Benimaru promptly let Gruecith go, and he
fell to his knees, the aura flowing out of him coming to an
instant stop, and the intensity in the air faded. Geld and the
rest of the audience did the same, celebrating my return—
but Yohm and Gruecith needed attending to first.

“Benimaru, what is going on here?”
“Well, my lord…”
He ran down the story for me as I had the two injured
drink some potion. As he put it, a group of people disguised
as merchants attempted to attack the town. They were
quite a bit more powerful than expected, creating some
serious chaos. “Then,” he said, “we were no longer able to
use magic, and we could feel the strength ebb from us.
Thanks to that, the people in town were—”
“Sir Benimaru!”

Rigurd shouted down Benimaru before he could finish.
They exchanged glances with each other as Benimaru
awkwardly nodded.

“Let us discuss that later… Regardless, however, we
were weakened thanks to whatever magic that woman over
there cast.”

Geld nodded deeply at this, telling me about how he
tracked down this caster and attempted to capture her.
Yohm got in his way, and they were forced to fight it out.
The rest of Yohm’s force was not involved; they were still
confined in their barracks for the time being. Things had
definitely gotten a lot sourer than I thought.

Just then, a rejuvenated Yohm threw himself down at my
feet.

“Rimuru, man, I’m sorry! I had no intention whatsoever
of betraying you. All I wanted to do was protect Mjurran’s
life!”

Mjurran, the mystery woman who had simply looked on
dejectedly so far, stepped forward. “Enough, Yohm,” she
said, looking a bit sad—somber and perhaps afraid of losing
something dear to her. “Just go ahead and abandon me.
There’s no need for you to be involved, too.”

“Please, Sir Rimuru,” Gruecith added, similarly
prostrating himself before me. “I fully understand that, as
your guest, I have no right to speak about this. But still…
Please, could you at least hear her out?”

Benimaru and the others looked disgusted at this, but
my return had at least calmed them somewhat. Geld was
normally coolheaded; as freaked out he was, it must have
been something pretty deep… But I couldn’t make any
decisions on this until I heard the whole story. Best to get
both sides of this, I thought as Mjurran quietly spoke once
more.

“No, Yohm. No, Gruecith. I have no right to be protected
by you. Who can say how much this town has lost, thanks to
me…? I was the one who engineered this tragedy…”

Rigurd winced at this. Benimaru averted his eyes. Kaijin
just closed his and stood there awkwardly. This tragedy…?
It did seem like something was being hidden from me,
yes…

“Um, what do you mean by ‘tragedy’?”
The silence my question conjured hung heavy until
Mjurran stepped forward. Geld warily sized her up,
requiring me to stop him.
“…Follow me,” she said as she boldly walked off,
apparently ready to accept all responsibility for the crime
she committed. There was something beautiful about it, in
a way. She was headed for the plaza in the middle of town,
the place they’d tried to keep me from reaching earlier.

There, before my eyes, was an untold number of
monsters on the ground—men, women, even children. I
approached them. Every single one of them laid down there
—

—was dead.

…How the hell did this happen?!
I felt my legs go weak. What’s going on here? Damn, my
mind’s racing on me. There was about a hundred of them
on the ground. Huh…? And they’re all dead…?
You’re kidding me!!

I heard one of the hobgoblin elders speak as I tried to
take it all in.

“We followed your wishes, Sir Rimuru, and treated the
merchants with kindness and civility. We had no idea there
was evil among their ranks—”

“S-silence!” Rigurd shouted. “You make it sound as if Sir
Rimuru is at fault!”

It was too late. The words battered harshly against my

mind.
“I—I apologize. I had no intention of that…”
I could hear the apology from afar, but my heart wasn’t

open to it.

He was right. My orders, my words, were the cause.

I may be a monster…but I used to be a human being. I
just wanted to be nice to people. Now, reality’s setting in.

So what the hell’s the right thing to do, then?!
…Who knows? That’s what I’m supposed to figure out.

My irresponsible mind attacked me incessantly, but I
couldn’t let it dictate my actions. This was my fault, and it
was up to me to shoulder the consequences. It felt like a
torrent of regret, a wellspring of anger with no place to go,
was gushing out of me. It was hard to think. I felt like I was
breathing more rapidly, even though I didn’t need to
breathe in the first place. I had no physical heart, but I
could still sense it racing.

It just didn’t seem like reality. I almost splattered against
the ground, unable to retain my human form. But that
wasn’t allowed. All I could do was grasp the situation and
make sure I didn’t pile mistake on top of mistake.

“What is…? What happened here?”
My voice was far away, cold and remote. It felt like all
emotion in my mind had frozen.
“If I hadn’t cast a great magic,” Mjurran said as I
attempted to stay on my feet, “I’m not sure any of this
would have happened.”
So this woman’s…the cause of it? And that’s why
Benimaru was so riled up…?
…I’ve got to clear my head!!

Report. Great Magic: Anti-Magic Area does not weaken its

targets in and of itself. In terms of a cause, it is believed the
people who the individual Soei was investigating are more
relevant.

My mind echoed with the voice of my partner, someone
never swayed by emotion.

No, but… Right. Calm down. This woman Mjurran was
attempting to rile me up to the point that I’d kill her—and
only her. She was diverting blame away from Yohm and
Gruecith. I knew that, as long as I could keep my head
cool…

Giving in to my rage and killing Mjurran wouldn’t solve
anything. It’d just be venting my anger.

It was only thanks to the Great Sage that I didn’t make
another mistake.

Thus we decided to get ourselves together and discuss
matters somewhere else. On the way, I asked Rigurd if
there were any other victims.

“No, my lord,” he said, “we assembled all of them here.
There are other injured, but Lady Shuna is taking care of
them.”

I was wondering why Shuna wasn’t around, actually.
That explained it. Our potion storage was all concentrated
in the cave, so she was probably using her own healing
magic for the job.

“Should I give them some potion, then?”
“N-no, I don’t think that’s necessary. I hate to put it like
this, but our attackers were rather formidable… And
surprisingly few people emerged only with injuries.”
In other words, they were all killed off in one shot. I
could feel my anger coming back. Can’t have that. I need to

stay calm.
“All right. Let’s talk this over first.”
………
……
…
Once we were all in the meeting hall and a bit more

relaxed, I received my briefing. I put my mind to work,
even as the shock made the whole thing feel like an out-of-
body experience.

The first attackers were a trio who targeted Gobzo and
got him into a conflict. That dopey face of his definitely
made him look like an easy mark, and I bet it didn’t take
much to shout him into submission. Not that it was his
fault, but he sure was unlucky to have this riffraff notice
him.

The conflict seemed to make Gobzo look like the bad guy,
but Gobta stepped in to resolve it quickly. What happened
next was the problem—that was when the attackers
revealed their full strength and conflict began in earnest.
They were astonishingly strong, it seems, enough so to
even give Hakuro a run for his money when he stepped into
the fray. From how it was described to me, at least, they
were the real deal.

“…If he hadn’t been weakened,” grumbled Benimaru,
“Hakuro would never have been defeated.”

He and Gobta were injured in the midst of all this, and
now that made sense to me. They avoided death only
because they gave their all in the fight. I’m sure neither of
them was a fan of being told they lost, but if they survived,
that was all that mattered. I was having Soei check out the
energy-sapping barrier. He’d provide a report before long,
no doubt, and all we’d have to do then was deal with that
and take on the next fight fully prepared.

“After that,” Rigurd continued, “a group of one hundred
regular knights from the Kingdom of Farmus visited town.
The attackers requested help from them, and the knights
agreed, stating they would take on the task under the laws
of humanity and the name of divinity. They refused to listen
to our words. It was all too one-sided.”

As he put it, the head of the knights shouted, “We came
here to investigate reports of a nation of monsters, and
what manner of chaos do I find?! In the name of humanity,
we promise to provide aid to our defenseless comrades!”
Then they all drew their swords and joined in the fracas,
attacking both the monster soldiers and the residents
looking on. This included children, indicating that they saw
us as little more than animals.

I’d told them to try their best not to be aggressive
against human beings, and I guess that put them at a big
disadvantage. It took time for Benimaru, Geld, and the rest
to tackle the threat in earnest. “We should have made them
give up their weapons before entering town,” Benimaru
commented—but there’s no way these guys would do
something like that of their own volition and without an
order from me.

I figured they would contact me via Thought
Communication about anything like that, and I paid dearly
for that error. In the end, the cause all goes back to me.

One of the Farmus knights left a message before leaving.
It went like this:

“This town is contaminated by the presence of monsters!
As protectors of the law of humanity and as faithful
followers of the One God Luminus, we refuse to
acknowledge the existence of a monster nation! We have
therefore signed an official pact with the Western Holy
Church to consider how to deal with this country! We will
return one week from today, commanded by our leader

himself, the wise and noble King Edmaris. If you surrender
and agree to fall under our rule, then by the name of our
god, we will guarantee your continued existence. Give up
your pointless resistance and surrender at once. If you do
not, then in the name of Luminus, we will eradicate all of
you from the face of the Earth!”

It was clear they didn’t care at all about what we would
do. Soei had already reported that the country was
preparing for a military operation. All that stuff about
“investigating” our nation was a big lie. Maybe they were
doing that, but they had already decided that wiping us off
the planet was the only option.

“What a charade.”
“It certainly is.” Rigurd nodded.
I recalled what Hinata had said: “Your town, you know…
It’s a bother to us. So we’ve decided to crush it.” Farmus
and the Western Holy Church must have been conspiring
against us from the start. Instead of one taking advantage
of the other, I imagined they teamed up because they
shared a common interest.
So I told everyone about my battle with Hinata and the
words we exchanged.
“…The head of the paladins?”
“Wow, boss. Nice job surviving that.”
Benimaru and Rigurd seemed unfamiliar with the
woman, but Kaijin and the dwarven brothers were fully
aware of her, and my story gave them a shock. Considering
the dealings they’ve sustained with monsters, the Dwarven
Kingdom and the Western Holy Church weren’t really on
good terms—not bad enough that they were off to war
tomorrow but more like each pretending that the other
didn’t exist. They did keep some tabs on each other,
though, as any nations would.
“Really,” Kaijin said, “even with the full might of the
Dwargon military, it’d be a bad idea to make the Western
Holy Church your enemy. But the Dwarven Kingdom is built